


Chance Encounters

by the_nerd_youre_looking_for



Series: TMA Fantasy Week [1]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Courting Rituals, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Lighthouses, Minor Injuries, TMA Fantasy Week, Trans Sasha James, Trans Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives), but mermaid, its not very important but i like to make it known, not in much detail or anything, tim is a merman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:22:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29923029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_nerd_youre_looking_for/pseuds/the_nerd_youre_looking_for
Summary: Sasha has been running this lighthouse for about three years now. She's used to the nature of the sea and the cold, she gets by with the isolation, and the proximity to all sorts of ocean creatures never bothered her.That is, of course, until a merman washes up with a torn fin. Then, Sasha feels really out of her depthPrompt: Sea
Relationships: Sasha James/Tim Stoker
Series: TMA Fantasy Week [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2201430
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	Chance Encounters

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I missed the TMA Fantasy Week >:O for some reason yesterday i thought it was the 13th??? Anyway I'm really glad to be able to do this :D
> 
> The idea of Sasha as a lighthouse keeper just slammed into my brain and I'm such a fan

Sasha knew the ins and outs of her lighthouse and the small island it sat on like she knew her own name. Being a lighthouse keeper wasn't ever her first choice of career. If you'd asked Sasha James ten years ago where she thought she'd be working, she might've said something about one academic institution or another, some library of sorts. And she had, for a time. It's just that she was never able to get where she wanted through those channels, so she'd quit her last job and couldn't find anywhere else that would hire her for various reasons or other, and then she found an opening at the lighthouse and the rest was history. 

It wasn't bad. In fact, it was rather nice. Between the upkeep of the place and the various chores she'd given herself, she had a good amount of downtime to read and do her needlepoint and all that. The salary was good, so when she took her little boat into town, she was able to get something nice for herself along with the necessities. And honestly, she didn't mind being alone. She wrote letters to her family and a couple friends, and sometimes she would visit them or they would visit her. And it was fine! She was always the sort to enjoy her own company. She kept herself sane with her hobbies and her routine, and it was genuinely a good place to be.

So she was more than a bit miffed when her routine was messed with in a pretty big way.

Sasha was just walking around the exterior of the lighthouse, making sure the windows were clean when she heard it. An odd, whining, chirping noise. She might've written it off as her imagination or a bird or something when it rose in volume, sounding undeniably not like a bird. She paused, halfway to putting down her bucket and cloth. Obviously, if it was an animal or a person in trouble, she wanted to help. But there were all sorts of magical creatures that loved the wild oceans, and it was usually best to not get involved. Who knows what type of drama and politics they got involved with? No, she'd always been _taught_ to stay out of their business and keep to herself. 

But she was really damn curious about what could be making that noise. 

She climbed up one of the larger rocks on the place and scanned the shoreline for anything out of the ordinary. Sasha was not expecting to see a merperson thrashing around on the sand, practically screaming their head off. A second of trepidation flashed through her, and then she was scrambling her way down to the shore.

When she got closer, she made an effort to slow down and be quieter, but the merperson obviously could tell someone was coming. They stopped moving and rolled over onto their back, watching her with impatience. They made a couple more chirping sounds, but clearly it wasn't feeling quite so urgent.

"Hey there." Sasha crouched down a couple feet in front of it. "I'm not quite sure if you understand what I'm saying. I think you might, even if you can't speak the language yourself. What's the matter?"

The merperson squeaks a few times, before rolling over on their back and lifting their tail up. It was actually very pretty, looking solid black until you notice the shades of dark gray making it up, and all the delicate fins coming off of it. In fact, Sasha was a bit too invested in the looks of it before she realized that the fins were exactly the problem. The tail fin had a large tear, ripping it nearly in half. 

"Lord, what happened?" Sasha ignored the annoyed look the merperson was giving her and circled around to examine the tear. It looked rough and jagged, like it'd been torn on a rock or something. The waves could be rough, so it wasn't too out of the ordinary. "Right, stay here. I've got a needle and some thread. Might hurt, but it should be something to help."

Without waiting for an answer, she ran back into the living space of the lighthouse and snatched her sewing kit off the table. Sasha wants to be quick, because this event feels very fragile. It feels like she could get back and there'd be nothing and she would have imagined everything. It feels like too many variables could go wrong if she isn't completely careful. Definitely a weird sort of urgency, nothing like she's heard people talk about after they have a fae encounter. Usually, they're scared. And for some reason, Sasha isn't. It seems almost like the merperson had sought out her help with their problem, and she wanted to find out why. She wanted to help and she sort of wanted to study them. Obviously, that wasn't happening, but still. It's not every day a creature from the seas takes an interest in you.

They were still there when she came back, crossing their arms over their chest in a sort of pout. Sasha laughed, despite the situation. "Alright, I'm back. Just sort of...grabbed the full thing, so...you can choose what color thread you want." She set the kit down on a rock, and saw the merperson shuffle a bit closer, curiosity alight in their expression. Sasha dug out her spools of thread, and after a moment, they pointed at the gray. Well, made sense since it would blend in with their fins. She threaded the needle, knelt down by the merperson's tail, and got to work.

It was a lot more nerve-wracking than one might expect. The fins were _really_ delicate, and Sasha was hyperaware of their claws and mouth full of fangs. If she made a wrong pull or stuck the needle in the wrong spot.....she didn't want to think about getting shredded to bits, so she decided to not. The merperson seemed to be being a good sport, though. They kept mostly quiet except for the occasional chirp and held totally still. 

Even though it felt like hours, it was really only about ten minutes until Sasha tied the final knot on her work. She wasn't actually sure how well it would hold up underwater, but it was better than nothing. "Right, you're all set. Um....do you need me to kinda pull you to the water or are you good?" 

They considered it for a second before nodding. Sasha took this as the former option and grabbed onto their wrists, walking backwards and dragging them into the shallow surf. She worried the sand was rough on their back, but the merperson seemed to be fine with it. They were even smiling, which was less unsettling than she thought it would be. It was a bit handsome, even. 

Once the merperson was in the water, Sasha let them go and took a few steps back. They wiggled out of the shallows and into the deeper water, then immediately dove down and disappeared. Sasha waited for thirty seconds, a minute, and was about to turn around and go back when the merperson burst back up from under the waves, a few yards out into the ocean. They smiled and waved, and Sasha couldn't help but return that gesture. They seemed sweet, but Sasha was fairly sure she wouldn't see them again. And she was alright with that.

______

Sasha had been very much wrong about not seeing the merperson again.

Two days after their initial meeting, she was weeding her little flower garden when she heard that familiar insistent chirping. She went to the shore, just to make sure they weren't hurt again, but she found them lying in the shallows and waving happily up at her, whistling in what seemed like a conversational manner. It was...interesting. Sasha was pretty shocked they'd actually liked her enough to come visit again. They talked for half an hour, and they handed her a small, smooth, green rock before swimming away again. 

So, it went like that. They would come to the shore every couple of days, make a racket until Sasha came down, they would talk, and sometimes they would have something for her. Usually it was a rock. Sometimes it was braided kelp, sea glass, or a shell. Once they brought her a fish, which she couldn't really do much with, but it was a surprisingly good dinner. 

As time went on, Sasha tried teaching them sign language, so they could really communicate. The merperson picked it up pretty quickly, which made things a lot easier. She got to learn some things about them, which was a lot better than her talking about herself and interpreting the resulting chirps, whistles, and squeaks. 

His name was Tim (or, Tim was the closest she could get because Sasha simply didn't have the vocal bits needed to pronounce his actual name). He and his family lived just a couple miles away, in a cave underwater. He used to have a brother, but he'd gotten killed in some territorial dispute. They all knew of the people who kept the lighthouse, and considered whoever it was to be an important figure, a sort of balance between ocean and land (Sasha was very interested in the history of _that_ but Tim didn't know any specifics). He was a very good singer, and had a great sense of humor. And Sasha thought he was rather handsome, with his curly black hair and muscular frame. Even his needle-sharp smile and bright yellow eyes were attractive to her. 

Sometimes she did have to go to the mainland to get supplies, and she'd leave a sign up by the shore just in case he dropped by. 

"Well, I don't just live on fish." She'd said to a pouting Tim one day. "I have to eat other things or I'll wither away and it'll suck."

 _"For you. I could eat the body."_ Tim signed, eyes sparkling with suppressed laughter (it sounded a bit like dolphin calls).

"You couldn't make it up to the lighthouse. You couldn't open the door. You're full of shit." Sasha stuck her tongue out and splashed some water at Tim. 

_"Terrible. Awful to me. Denying me food and attacking me."_

"I could have you for dinner. Big fish."

_"I thought you didn't eat fish."_

"Oh, piss off." Sasha laughed. It was nice like this. Easy.

______

One of those gift-days, he handed her a braid of seaweed, with bits of pink sea glass tied in.

"It's really pretty, thank you!" Sasha smiled at Tim, which made him smile in turn. "Do these mean anything, or is it just like...a craft?" 

_"A gift. For you."_

"I can tell. What are the gifts for? And this looks like it took a lot of time. I really appreciate....well, all of them. I wish I had some cool stuff to give you."

Tim just shrugged, and changed the subject to a story of some drunk teenage boys almost peeing on him. It was gross and funny, and it almost took Sasha's mind off the presents.

______

"Why me?"

_"What do you mean?"_

"On our first meeting. Was it because I was closest? Did you just wash up here? Was there no one who would've known how to patch the fin up?" The rip in Tim's fin was healed up now, only noticeable by the little hints of gray thread that hadn't fallen out yet. It left just the faintest whisper of a scar, but nothing too obvious. Tim had been disappointed about that, and complained about how scars looked cool. 

_"You were closest. And I trusted you."_

"How come? You didn't know anything about me. I could've cooked you for dinner."

 _"Just instinct. You didn't cook me, so I'm right."_ Tim grinned like that explained it all. And maybe it did.

______

A few months later, Sasha is still burningly curious about Tim's insistence on giving her these weird gifts (it's to the point where her shelves are lined with books, her needlepoints, and random trinkets Tim had given her) and he still refuses to tell her what it is. So, she sent a quick letter off to her brother. He knew a fair amount about sea life, and if he didn't know about that, at least he had internet access. Sasha had absolutely no signal out there. 

About a week later, Sasha got her response.

_Hi Sasha!  
Glad to hear you've made a friend out there. Merpeople are a bit unpredictable sometimes, so I'm glad you met a friendly one. Remember when we went fishing a few years back and one ate my pole? Ask him if he likes that.  
(The picture was nice as well. The guy seems to like being photographed haha!)  
Anyway, I did a little Google (perks of having internet) and it looks like the gifts are a part of merpeople courting rituals. I printed out an article about it and sent it with this, in case you wanna get more in depth. So you've got yourself a boyfriend! Congrats!  
Come visit soon, alright? We all miss you.  
Love, Teddy_

The article did go a bit more in depth on the subject. Apparently merpeople get each other pretty gifts as a part of courting, showing that they care about the other and think of them when they see pretty things. And the study had been conducted with input from merpeople, so she knew it was legit. It threw the gifts she'd been given into a whole new light. Sasha hadn't known a lot about different courting rituals (besides birds of paradise and those penguins who give each other rocks), so it was....a bit of a shock to find out that the lowkey-highkey-kinda-hot-really-sweet merman has been hitting on her the whole time. God, he must think she's dense. 

Or does he even think she knows about these things? 

Well, there was only one way to solve this.

______

On her next run into town, she'd taken a trip into an antiques shop and bought something nice (while also reasonably priced). All she had to do was wait until Tim visited again.

As it turned out, that was the next day. He pointed at the small package she had and made a curious whistle. 

"It's a surprise." Sasha said as she sat down on the sand. "Ok, I'm calling you out here. You knew I didn't know anything about your courting rituals, didn't you?"

Nothing from Tim. Just a shocked flush across his cheeks and a startled chirp. 

"Uh-huh, don't even try to cover it up." She grinned and held out the package. "It's for you."

Tim took it, still pretty flustered, but he cut it open with his claws and just stared. It was a small but elaborate clock she'd found, with fun little hands and everything. Sasha had figured Tim would like it, and by the look on his face, she was right.

_"What?"_

"It's for you. I'm returning the gesture. Figured I might as well give the merperson way a try." She shrugged.

Tim stared at her a moment before he pushed himself out of the water and closer to her, pushing their foreheads together. He did that a lot, and Sasha had always thought it was really cute. She could feel him signing against her leg: _"love you, love you, love you"._

"I love you too, you loser." Sasha couldn't keep the laugh out of her voice. She did love him, or she was going to very soon. It didn't really matter, in the end. The end result was the same. "Maybe we can try doing human dates next."

Tim pulled back and wrinkled his nose in disgust. _"If you forgot, I live in the water. Can't get you chocolate or anything."_

"I guess. I could get it for you. But we can keep at it this way. I've read articles, so I know about it." Sasha decided to ignore Tim sticking his tongue out. Whichever way they worked things out, she figured it'd be alright. It would be their own way at love, so it would be perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> I always say I love Sasha POV because she just takes the story from me. Hers now. 
> 
> Was this an excuse to incorporate my own personal mermaid designs into something? Maybe
> 
> Tim: Please accept my courtship gifts ur v pog and ily  
> Sasha: Hey google this guy keeps giving me rocks-
> 
> Also burningly is not an actual word turns out but I like it so. We're using it


End file.
